Yom Kippur 5775

Last week, I was in a Jewish bookstore and when I entered, I saw a young man pacing saying, “I need to find a good Shofar.” He picked up a Shofar from the display and tried to blow into it. A small sound came out but it definitely was not a sound that you would want to hear on Rosh HaShana. He then picked up another Shofar and tried blowing into it. Same thing. He started to get upset and said, “there are no good Shofars in this store.” He went up to the owner and asked if there were any other Shofars available. There was a pile in the back that the owner pointed to. The man then tried some of those and was getting similar results. I saw him use six Shofars before I paid for what I bought and left. The man was still there.

This man was clearly very silly. I think he missed the message: the Shofars were not the problem; he was the problem. He did not know how to blow properly. He needed more practice.

As I was driving home, I thought about what had happened and realized this was a great thing to see right before the Aseres Yamei Tshuvah (10 Days of Repentance). There are so many times that we look at what is going on and place the blame on our surroundings. We find something else to blame. The reason things aren’t working is this person’s fault or this thing’s fault.

On Yom Kippur, we need to look at ourselves and what we’ve done and take responsibility. It is no one else’s fault. It is nothing else that caused me to do what I did. I am at fault. I did something improper. This is the first step to repenting properly.

Have an Easy and Meaningful Fast.
Good Shabbos & Gmar V’Chasima Tova!

-y.e.s.
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